EU Sovereignty Score
Non-EU vendorMaps & NavigationHeadquarters: KR

Kakao Maps: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Kakao Maps (KakaoMap) is a mapping and navigation service from the South Korean company Kakao Corporation, available at map.kakao.com. It offers search for places, addresses and bus and subway stops, route planning for driving, public transport and walking, real-time bus arrival information, standard and satellite maps, and street view (Roadview). Map layers show traffic, bicycle paths, terrain and air quality, among others. Users can log in to save favourites, write reviews and report new places or errors. An open map API is available for developers. The service is focused on South Korea.

Kakao Corporation is headquartered in Jeju, South Korea. Kakao Maps is proprietary software with no self-hosting option and is delivered as a service operated by the vendor. For a European organisation this means that search and location data are processed by a Korean provider, which matters for a GDPR transfer assessment. The pages consulted do not state where data is stored, so request the provider's privacy terms before using the service.

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Sovereignty score
42 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-250
    Headquartered outside the EU (KR)
  • Data residency SOV-350
    Hosting inside and outside Europe (EU, OTHER)
  • Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-340
    Key management with a non-European vendor
  • Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
    Closed source: switching requires data migration
  • Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-630
    Closed source, runtime with the vendor

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked October 5, 2026
Headquarters
KR (OTHER)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decision
Yes — found adequate by the European CommissionVerified by hand
Sovereignty model
Vendor-hosted (non-EU)Verified by hand
Data hosting
EU, OTHERVerified by hand
Open-source
NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant
YesVendor-stated
Category
Maps & Navigation
Type
Product
Website
map.kakao.com ↗

How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Kakao Maps

The European alternatives to Kakao Maps come from our knowledge base of over 6,800 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

37 European Maps & Navigation vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with Kakao Maps

Kakao Maps is headquartered in KR, outside the EU. Contracts and data therefore also fall under non-European law. The GDPR applies through contractual terms, but in a conflict with local legislation you have less certainty than with a European vendor.

Kakao Maps hosts data in EU, OTHER. Exactly what stays within the EU — and what does not — is defined by the vendor's data processing agreement and sub-processor list, not by a setting you control yourself; check those documents for the precise scope, including backups, logs and support access.

Kakao Maps is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs Kakao Maps together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to Kakao Maps?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Kakao Maps include BRouter, calimoto and cartes.gouv.fr. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Kakao Maps?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Kakao Maps include BRouter and GraphHopper. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is Kakao Maps GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Kakao Maps is headquartered in KR (OTHER) and hosts data in EU, OTHER. The vendor states it is GDPR-compliant, but the data falls under non-EU jurisdiction. For full EU data residency the EU alternatives on this page usually offer more certainty.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on October 5, 2026.

Sources

Public sources used in the latest check of this record.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

No public compliance evidence has been recorded for this vendor yet. Do you know its DPA or subprocessor list? Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Digital sovereignty in Maps & Navigation

Maps & Navigation: Maps, route planning and navigation services. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

Also in this category

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8 European alternatives to Kakao Maps — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score